Not everybody will like your comic

[Zanreo]

Yeah, I don't care if someone doesn't like my comic. It's a comic about games - people who aren't interested in games are unlikely to check it out, and even gamers might be burned out on the very much overdone and bloated "gaming comic" genre to even want to check it out, even though I believe my comic is doing something different. Though, several people have commented that they like what my comic is doing even though they typically don't read "gaming comics", and I feel pretty good about that

[VermillionWorks]

I agree. I know critics can be pretty blunt and harsh sometimes, but he really didn't elaborate very well and that kind of criticism always kind of bugs me - particularly when it's from a reviewer who's supposed to kind of specialize in this sort of stuff. XP

All in all, it sounded more like the story's theme was just not his cup of tea to begin with instead of their being major problems with the writing itself...so that's like saying, "If I hate this kind of story, everyone else will too! That's the truth!"

I don't know, that's just how I saw it...>_>

[ToonDoctor]

I have been reviewing comics at ComicBookBin.com for over 13 years. Trust me, reviewers are not more popular than writers. What I will say is that reviewers who know what they are doing are rarer. Using @Neil_Harrington's example, I would not berate him on the topic matter which is auto-biographical. You can't argue with that. I would argue on the techniques he used to make his point and see he was effective/successful or not.

If I review an Archie comic, I review it in the context of what it is. It's silly to try to compare it to The Watchmen.

[abbastudios]

There may be more at play. What he likes on a personal level may be different from what he chooses to review.

Once you asked for a review, he had to look at it from a different perspective. He most likely did you a fovor if his review was going to be all negative.

To put it another way. I've told artists I like their work. A few have gotten excited and asked me to recommend them for jobs. I've had to refuse to do that. Giving someone a referral puts my reputation on the line as well for a variety of reasons. I liked the art, but it was not at a level that they were ready to get work, so it seemed like I flipped on them.

[MaiStarberries]

As I see it, there are four types of opinions:

• Unhelpful, but positive: "Oh, I love your comic!" Cool, why? "It's just so great!" Well, uh, that still doesn't tell me why, but it makes me feel good about my work nonetheless so that's fine.
• Helpful and positive: You actually know WHY you like my work or you like it but noticed something I could improve on? Great, now I know what I'm (probably) doing right or what I need to improve on!
• Negative or neutral, and helpful: You don't like my comic or just don't care either way but can at least tell me why or what I can improve on? That's still good! Still helps!
• Negative, unhelpful, and often in my experience rude: I actually once had someone I know tell me that one of my characters was a bad character. Fair enough if they didn't like him, but when I asked what I could do to improve the character, they just responded with "Nothing, he's just a bad character." So, uh... I didn't change that character since I liked him as he was and now I don't listen to that person's opinions unless they give a reason for their opinion.

TL;DR: Positive opinions make me feel good and I love to hear what you think I can do to improve, but if your opinion is just "your work sucks because it sucks, too bad so sad", then I'm gonna ignore you and move on because that doesn't help me in any way.

[Erena]

I could think of a whole list of series that I hate but everyone loves and vice versa. Doesn't always mean that it's bad, just that everyone has different tastes. However, when I give a story a rating, I don't rate it on my personal taste, rather by things like techniques used, how well the story is told, the characters, etc. That also counts stories I love- sometimes there's a show that I really enjoy, but if it is heavily flawed, I can't give it a perfect score- even if it is one of my favorites.

Constructive criticism is good, however, I don't really find Paul's review to be that helpful and very vague. If it seems like it's just based on one's personal taste, I wouldn't really rely on it so much.

[ToonDoctor]

About criticisms, I too had a bad bout of criticisms right here on Tapastic with many people who just didn't like my comic. One person said that at the time that it was universally criticized negatively. The problem was the criticism was all over the place and some of it even contradicted what different critics were saying. It was difficult to figure out because people were challenging the very foundation and choices I made about my comic and even lecturing me about what I should know about storytelling. It was funny and odd to me, because I knew exactly where I was going with the story - in hindsight, given more strips, I've been told that what didn't make sense to some actually makes a lot of sense now.

[MylCreates]

Reminds me of this documentary on Netfilx I watched called Stripped.

[Raven_C]

I have to admit I haven't received a lot of bad criticisms on my comic but I know for a fact that the type of stuff I do will not please everyone, and sometimes I do notice that people unsubscribe. But for every person who unsubscribes, there's at least 3 to 5 new people that follow, which reminds me that as long as I keep going, there will always be people out who are interested. Those are the ones that matter.

[abbastudios]

You are not covering any new ground writing about art is subjective.

Your time would be better spent working on your strip.

[Delete]

I shared a table at a convention with a friend once and he ended up saying that he think my comic does not look professional enough. I asked him what he meant by that and he said they should look more like dreamworks or pixar characters designs, apparently that's what all professional art should strive for. It's not like he told me an arm was drawn bad or that a composition wasn't clear. It's just that it should look more like pixar. Personally, I'm not into art that looks like that and hate doing a lot of extravagant gesture drawings as well as exaggerating features on characters. That being said, he is an illustrator, while I am a fine artist so we have different viewpoints on what our comics should look like. Anyways I said thanks for the advice and he said, "if you ever need help fixing your comic, let me know."

At the same time though, he was unable to see how badly his own zine comic came out. The art quality I thought was pretty good, but he did not plan his schedule properly and barley finished it before the convention. The printouts of his zine looked very rough and the zine was missing the last page. production wise, it was not that strong. Also I thought his story was the most cliché story I ever read. It was a kid going to a new town, gets bullied a little, kicks ball over fence into the scary house, scary house ends up having a nice old lady, learns lesson. I tried to tell him what I thought but he was just would not listen to my criticism but had no trouble dishing out criticism about my stuff. It was kind of annoying.

I don't know where I am going with this rant. Overall I think people got to take criticism with a grain of salt and realize the best critic is yourself. Also another thing I've learned in grad school for fine arts is don't be afraid to argue criticism. I emailed that guy, Paul, thanking him for his input but I like my comic and I known other people that have really enjoyed it and I'm sorry it was not his cup of tea.

I think you don't have to bend over and just take criticism as well. If you worked hard on something I think you also have to be willing to defend your work, which is something I think people forget.

[Delete]

Just saw that movie a week ago. It was pretty good. The whole scene about how webcomics make money made me feel kind of sick. Also the guys of penny arcade were really obnoxious during their interview but all the other artists and creators seemed really cool in that movie.

[allenthomas]

It's ironic that you posted this. Today I just happened to get unsubscribe from my comic. With it was a nice little post telling me how, my character dialogue seems weird and off and the art looks terrible. The funny thing is, EXACTLY yesterday I got a new subscriber who told me how the dialogue in my story seemed real and he loves my character designs. People all just having different taste in art. I'm beginning to learn how to take all criticism in stride, and continue trying to work and improve. You are right not EVERYBODY will like your comic, and that's okay.

[brunoharm3]

"Peoples is peoples"
It's a silly quote, but somehow I find it profound, Because there really isn't anything as fickle as a human being. No generalization about us will stand true at all times. Tastes change. Our interests shift. Life itself kicks us around. I love all kinds of action and horror stuff, well I did until I had my son. Now, as soon as kids start dying, I turn it off. I stopped watching many TV dramas for that reason. I guess I'm saying there's a lot that goes into "liking" your work, other than the work itself. I met a guy today that refuses to watch any Star Wars Movie.... ANY OF THEM! FOR NO REAL REASON! can you believe it?!
"Peoples is peoples"

[abbastudios]

Nowadays?

This has been for quite a while. From Walter Winchell to Roger Ebert.

[ratique]

Emotionally, I find it hard to accept that somebody does not like my comic. Because I like it! And I think it is hard for any human being to understand on a very emotional level that not everyone likes the same things you like.

Luckily I am more of a rational person than an emotional one. And it makes total sense that mathematically speaking a large percentage of people won't like my comic, and another decent percentage will like it. And a small percentage will change their mind over time and unsubscribe. That's just part of it.

[Kamikaze]

As someone who works on a narrative comic and not a 'funny-ha-ha' comic, I totally feel you @Neil_Harrington.
I took a look through your comic and you know what? The art isn't the problem and neither is the writing. The problem is you've only got a handful of pages, and we just don't get to know a comic really well until much later.

The first 8 pages of any comic is going to be iffy or amazing for different people based on their own tastes. Yeah, you go a slice of life thing going on, and while your art isn't "OMG PIXAR/MARVEL" you know who else isn't that? XKCD. Cyanide and Happiness. Scott Pilgrim. The beginning of Homestuck was beyond weird in art style at the beginning and look at it now! Have you seen the original art for Attack on Titan (manga version)? Dude traced over stuff, couldn't keep his style consistent and had such a hard time in the beginning - because he was learning!

You're just starting out. If your comic were a kid right now it'd still be an infant baby. Why are you worrying about whether it'll walk when it's only 5 weeks old? Growth is rarely ever super fast. Give your comic-baby time to grow.

Don't worry about what other reviewers or negging jerks say. At this point it's about getting the story going, finding your own pace, and finding something you want to say. IN the end it doesn't matter what other people say. Be consistent in posting on schedule. Engage with your fans, subscribers and commenters. And above all else...

-C

[Delete]

thank you guys. That's all really nice things to say about my work. I won't let it get to my head though. I may not let criticism get to me really, but I'll admit I am a total compliment whore

People at work can always manipulate me to lift the heavy boxes just by saying I'm strong. I'm a sucker for compliments.

[ghostnxs]

I'm always trying to make my art perfect or damn near close, but then I remember that trying to be a perfectionist is what kills me mentally and seeing post like this keeps me moving forward. I'd be able to pump out pages if I stopped worrying about making things look right(I've been re-sketching the same page for hours because I thought the perspective was wrong and parts weren't dynamic enough. honestly the whole instant notification and monetary possibility seems to do more harm than good.

[ghostnxs]

P.S. It being a perfectionist also makes me loose the fun out of drawing